Castagnole’s beautiful Piazza Balbo is now dominated by the elegant 17th-century building of the deconsecrated Oratory of St. John the Baptist, also known as the Confraternity of the White Beats, built in 1668. The oratory was formerly the largest building in the entire municipality, with a simple and elegant facade typical of the 17th-century Piedmontese Baroque style. The sober and bright interior housed a white marble altar and a silver pipe organ. In 1831 the exterior was further enriched with the construction of a slender bell tower.
Damage caused to the oratory during the war period and the subsequent dissolution of the Company of the Battuti resulted in the building being abandoned, deconsecrated and stripped of its furnishings. The oratory in 1948 was converted into a parish hall and cinema. Today, thanks to restoration by the municipality in 2007, the building has recovered its original exterior beauty and its old 17th-century stone and brick floor, becoming the ideal space for important cultural events.
